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SotB XLV: Graze Anatomy
Plans for the agents' ranch and casino are complicated by the tension surrounding the settlement of the Zygerrian refugees on Wayright... Agents Session 1 * Chimagura (chim chim) * Derra * Gristle * Hack * Pakbatt * Shorbecca Session 2 * Aiden * Erdogan Cael * Eve * Makren Duvel * Roncas Starchaser * Zeevo the Hutt Mission Report Summary by Ben The agents are all conducting business in the town of Wayright while the Sunflare is out for repairs. Bound to landspeeders and speeder bikes for the moment, the agents head back by land to Altar Mountain. Along the way, they decide to visit the newly operational ranch, recently purchased from the town grouch, Old Man Harkis. However, as they approach, they see a flash in the distance with a storm brewing in the sky above. The ranch house is ablaze, and they can hear the screaming of the zygerrian ranch hands. Immediately, Shorbecca leaps in to try to beat the door down, but it feels stuck. Hack manages to come in and pull it from its hinges, letting free six zygerrians that had been trapped inside, burning. Chim leaps in on Gotham’s back through a window. Meanwhile, Gristle tends to two of the zygerrians laying on the ground outside the ranch house, but he can’t find any obvious signs of harm at a glance. He tries to wave the newly escaped ones over while inspecting the wounded ones. Inside the burning building, Chim, Hack and Shorbecca fight through the flames and find one of the zygerrians still trapped inside. It’s a child, and Hack is able to pull a burning beam off of her before handing her over to Chim, who rushes her out on Gotham’s back. Shorbecca finds Arron, one of the zygerrians, and flies him out with his jetpack. Chim leaps back in to help, finding Svena, but has difficulty leaving. His fur catches fire, and the house begins to crumble around him. Another beam falls onto Svena, and Shorbecca zooms back in, the thrust from his pack putting out the fire on Chim. The ewok fires off a shot to break the beam holding Svena down, and Shorbecca grabs her and pulls her out. The agents inside manage to escape, successfully rescuing the trapped zygerrians. Gristle, outside, is trying to organize the wounded and prepare for treatment. When Shorbecca comes out with the child in his arms, he moves over immediately to treat the young one first, successfully stabilizing him. Despite the screaming and chaos, he seems comfortable in the situation, and is able to focus completely on aiding the ones most wounded. Hack goes to help some of the refugees with Chim while Derra calls the medical center in town. Shorbecca helps Gristle, acting as an assistant, With the child taken care of, Gristle moves to one of the mysteriously injured guards and is able to conclude that he’d be poisoned. He’s also able to connect the poisoning to a dropped cup nearby, containing water from a local creek that may have been poisoned. With that in mind, he’s able to quickly treat the other poisoned guard. Working together, the agents are able to pool their talents and their limited resources to stabilize or treat every single one of the injured zygerrians, buying enough time for the transports from Wayright to arrive. With the pressure off, they accompany the zygerrians back to town and set up some guards in the clinic to ensure the refugees remain safe.. Gristle and Derra meet with the marshal in the meantime to inform him of the poisoning, and he promises to put his deputies on the case right away. As they’re leaving the marshal’s office, the two are approached by a woman, Margot Davin, from the ranch downstream of the agents’ venture. She complains about her nerfs falling ill and blames them for not maintaining their herd. Gristle and Derra tell her about the fire, and she seems sympathetic despite her initial anger. Gristle offers an antidote for the poison as reparations, and the woman gladly accepts it. Back in the medical lab, Hack investigates the poison, which appears to be a mix of raquor venom and the extract of a plant known to grow in the forests the Wookiees dwell in. It is potent, but dissipates quickly, which is why the nerfs downstream have only fallen ill. The agents are aware of several groups that may have had a hand in the deed. The evocii are terrified of falling under the influence of slavers again, and are understandably distraught by the presence of the zygerrians. The wookiees are going through some troubles, with some wookiees viciously opposing the zygerrians’ presence while their leader, Weshyrr, is trying to preach tolerance. About 20% of Wayright’s miners are also escaped slaves of different races, and there are a few groups that are outraged, but the majority of the population doesn’t seem to mind that the zygerrians are seeking a new home there. Shorbecca calls for Weshyrr, but the call is picked up by Sholbaar, another wookiee. Sholbaar informs Shorbecca that Weshyrr isn’t available. This concerns Shorbecca, so he quickly rallies the others and takes them into the forest to find the wookiee enclave. Before long, they stumble upon some traps, one of which triggers and shoots a poisoned arrow into Pakbatt’s arm. A group of wookiees then emerge, headed by Sholbaar, who wards off the agents, including Shorbecca. He delights in the mention of the zygerrians and their hardships, and the attempts by Gristle and Shorbecca to calm them fall on deaf ears. Their most pressing concern is the presence of a large creature in the nearby forest that has been causing trouble. Chim is interested in the lead and sneaks off on Gotham’s back to find the beast. After some tracking, he does find the bear-like animal, accompanied by a pair of its cubs. He lines up a shot and fires two bolts into the large animal, killing it. He also manages to catch one of the cubs. Hearing the gunfire, both the wookiees and the agents rush over to investigate, and Sholbaar is actually impressed by the feat. They’re allowed to come to the wookiee enclave to deliver the captured cub, as well as the news of the beast’s death. Weshyrr is there to greet them, and agrees to raise the cub as a companion to the wookiees and their children. Weshyrr appears to have been wounded by the beast, but is more reasonable than Sholbaar, and offers his help in defending the zygerrians and condemning the poisoning. From the enclave, Gristle, Shorbecca and Hack head to meet with the evocii, concerned that they might be the culprits. Upon entering the evocii quarter, they’re faced with Batarus, the community leader, his son Castar, and a group of snipers on nearby rooftops, all paranoid given recent events. Gristle implores Batarus to condemn the attack on the zygerrians and does his best to calm the nerves of the weary evocii, promising that their help in capturing the true culprit will ensure future security for the whole of the colony. Batarus does eventually agree and guarantees that none of his people were responsible. Above all, he’s fearful of being forced back into slavery, but Gristle and the others promise that such a thing will never happen. Castar looks unpleased and unconvinced. On their way back from the evocii quarter, Gristle and Shorbecca poke around on the streets for information. They do catch wind of Harkira, who leads the rabblerousers among the miners. She is Old Man Harkis’s niece, and is bitter about the ranch not being turned over to her. She’s also romantically involved with the marshal. They relay the information over to Pakbatt, Chim and Derra, who are headed to the Thirsty Nerf to investigate Harkira. Chim overhears that Harkira had uncovered a platinum vein and thus is enjoying a windfall. While the ewok is talking up one of the cantina patrons, Harkira comes over and offers a drink. Chim brings up the fire at the ranch, and she seems surprised by the news. Harkira doesn’t appear to have any love for the Broker’s agents, thinking them undeserving and incompetent when it comes to the ranch. She catches on that Chim is an agent, and although he dodges the question at first, he confirms it and asks about the fire. She doesn’t seem to know anything about it, and Chim trusts that she wasn’t involved. Nearby, the three notice a group of ranch hands with mud on their boots. They linger for a while, but soon leave the cantina and head off on speeder bikes. Chim asks his drinking partner about him, and he’s told that they’re workers hands from the Davins’ ranch. Derra asks Harkira about the Davins in the meantime, but is completely stonewalled. In the meantime, Pakbatt tracks the ranch hands that had departed, and is able to leave a trail for Chim and Derra to follow after him. They call in to the other agents and inform them of what they’ve found. They all meet together near the ranch house to scope it out, and they spot Castar, the son of the evocii leader Batarus. Castar, Margot and Mr. Davin all appear to be having an argument. Gristle and Chim sneak up to the house to listen in. They all seem angry at each other. Castar seems to believe that Mr. Davin was responsible for something, and mentions chemicals being stored somewhere on the ranch. Margot yells at Castar about being a drunk, warning him not to accuse her father of anything. It seems that Castar and Margot are together, but the relationship is rocky due to tension and her father’s disapproval. Frustrated, Mr. Davin pulls out a blaster. Pakbatt, watching from the hills beyond the ranch, fires off a shot and blasts the weapon from Davin’s hand. At the same time, Gristle emerges to confront the rancher, who takes off after yelling into his comlink to ‘dump the goods’. Everyone leaps into action. Gristle pursues Davin down the hall, landing a blow as he chases. Shorbecca activates his jetpack and flies in. Chim turns and fires at one of the hands who’d taken off toward the barn, knocking him off of his feet. Davin jumps into a landspeeder and hits the throttle. Pakbatt fires off a shot, hitting him in the driver’s seat while Shorbecca swoops in from their vantage on the hill, really hitting the thrust on his jetpack. The wookiee fires off a shot from his stun pulse cannon, hitting the rancher but leaving him just barely conscious. Pakbatt fires again, and the speeder veers off, spinning into a rock formation and lighting on fire, leaving Davin trapped beneath it. The agents try to pull the speeder off of him, but to no avail. The speeder explodes before they can get it off, killing the rancher. The marshal arrives shortly after, and the agents explain the situation. The chemicals in the barn turn out to be the exact ingredients for the poison that had been dumped into the river. The agents meet back up at the medical center, where the zygerrians are arguing about their situation. The agents do their best to ensure the zygerrians that their life on Wayright won’t be as bad as it seems now, and that the people they may think of as enemies are actually more supportive than anything else. Harkira enters and tosses a credit chip to both the agents and the zygerrians, offering the windfall from her platinum find. Category:Shadow of the Broker Missions